Sheriffs from across the state gathered in Annapolis Thursday, urging the Senate to quash a bill that would prohibit state and local law enforcement from entering into agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“To protect our communities, we must, as sheriffs, be allowed to work with our local, state and federal partners — all of our federal partners,” Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler, a Republican, said at a news conference.

Sponsored by Del. Nicole Williams, a Prince George’s County Democrat, House Bill 1222, also known as the Maryland Values Act, would prevent law enforcement and other government entities from participating in 287(g) programs with ICE.

Williams said Thursday during the bill’s hearing in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that the bill does not prevent local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement. The legislation would establish a statewide standard mandating that local jails hold people who have been convicted of crimes of violence, driving under the influence or engaging in gang activity for 48 hours only in order to facilitate ICE detainers. If ICE does not retrieve them within that time, the individual would be released.

There are six counties in Maryland, including Harford, Frederick and Cecil counties, that have 287(g) agreements with ICE, allowing detention center staff to run names of inmates through a database to check for immigration enforcement actions. If there is a detainer, they will notify ICE, a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to ICE, Carroll and Washington counties’ participation in the program is pending.

“We facilitate a process,” Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, a Republican, said. “That’s all we do.”

Cecil County Executive Adam Streight, a Republican, said he is “baffled” about why the legislature wants to protect people who break the law “no matter their immigration status.”

“This bill is a public safety bill,” Williams said. “This bill will actually help to foster public safety, because it will lay a framework for every jurisdiction in the state of Maryland that they must follow, and it will also say to everyone who lives here … that you will be safe if you need law enforcement to assist you.”

The bill passed out of the House chamber this month along party lines.

House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, an Allegany County Republican, said he is “somewhat embarrassed” that his chamber passed it.

“I hope and trust that the Senate will put a stop to it,” he said.

Williams said Thursday that the legislation is “critically important” because she believes that ICE is “targeting” people under the direction of President Donald Trump.

“These individuals that these 287(g) programs target are individuals that go to work, go to school, raise their children and are really just trying to have a better life for themselves and their families,” she said. “The 287(g) program is a mechanism through which certain communities feel terrorized, to be honest with you, and feel as though they’re unable to have a conversation with law enforcement if they’re a victim of a crime (or) if they see criminal activity within their community.”

If the legislation goes into effect, law enforcement officials are concerned that it will place the public at risk.

Jenkins said the bill should be called the “Place Marylanders in Danger Act.”

“These criminals have been victimizing American families, including here in Maryland,” he said. “They overwhelmingly prey on the immigrant communities — the very communities that supporters of this bill say they’re trying to protect.”

Gahler pointed to the death of Rachel Morin as a reason to maintain 287(g) programs.

In August 2023, Morin, 37, was killed on Harford County’s Ma and Pa Heritage Trail. Her alleged assailant, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 25, of El Salvador, entered the country illegally. The trial for Martinez-Hernandez begins Tuesday. Gahler said it will focus “the eyes of America” on Harford County.

“The Maryland Senate needs to say ‘no’ to House Bill 1222, and ‘yes’ to the safety of our families and the safety of our communities,” he said.

Have a news tip? Contact Hannah Gaskill at hgaskill@baltsun.com.